Wednesday, September 3, 2008

HAZELNUT NOUGATINE - NOUGATINE

In June this year, I had blogged about a "Danish Lemon Mousse"which I had put in a verrine and served with some swirly decorations which had captured your attention. As many of you asked for the "Sesame Nougatine" recipe, I thought that it was about time for me to share it with you...

Instead of giving you the recipe for the "Sesame Nougatine", I am posting about my "Hazelnut Nougatine" recipe which is in many ways exactly the same. The only difference resides in the fact that it is made with nuts instead of seeds. In any case, the kind of nut that you are going to use all depends on your personal choice and on what you are going to make with the praline or how you are going to serve it.

"Nougatine" (dark brown) is the cousin of "Nougat" (white). Both are confectionaries made with sugar, honey and roasted nuts. While "White Nougat" is chewy, soft and made with beaten egg whites, "Nougatine" is hard, crunchy, dark and made with caramelized sugar.

I really like this addictive candy as it tastes gorgeous and is wonderfully as well as exhilaratingly fragrant thanks to the roasted nuts and the caramel. It is also very versatile as it can be used as decoration for desserts or processed in order to make "Praline Powder" or "Praline Paste"...I hope you'll enjoy my recipe and will have fun playing around with your "Hazelnut Nougatine"!

Method:1. In a thick-bottomed pan, put the sugar first, then the honey and the nuts (without mixing).2. Cook, at medium heat.3. After a few minutes, when the sugar will have partially melted, mix well in order to coat the nuts. Repeat this operation until the sugar has melted completely.4. Then stop stirring, until the sugar has turned to caramel (light brown not black).5. Pour that mixture onto a baking tray covered with baking paper.6. Spread the mass before it hardens.7. Let cool.8. Break into pieces of the desired size.

Remarks:You don't need to pre-roast the nuts as they will get roasted to perfection while they are in the caramel.If you want, you can replace the hazelnuts by any other nut of your choice (macadamia nuts, almonds, cashew nuts, etc...) or sesame seeds (add them at the end).You can also transform this "Hazelnut Nougatine" into "Praline Powder" or "Praline Paste" (use 50% hazelnuts + 50% almonds). You'll just have to break it into tiny pieces (with the help of a hammer) and put the broken pieces into a blender and grind them to a thin powder ("Praline") or, if you continue a little longer, to a thick, viscuous and homogenous paste ("Praline Paste").

In the US, Praline is generally made with added butter & cream, brown sugar and no honey. In France, Praline is quite different as it contains less caramel (caramel coated nuts only/no bars). In think... If you find out, please tell me!

CICERO SINGS: Thanks! It isn't all that difficult, but it can be tricky!

SENGA: Merci beaucoup! Je me réjouis de m'en servir :-D! Bises!

ELRA: It is so scrumptious! I bet he's going to beg you to make a batch ;-P...

LISA: Praline powder can be used to sprinkle desserts or can be incorporated in cake/muffin/cupcake batter. Praline Paste can be used as a spread, incorporated in buttercream, cake batter, used as a filling, etc...

Rosa this looks great and the pictures are breathtaking! Food blogging takes so long as it is, you're a Saint for doing it in 2 languages!

And I've been ECSTATIC to tell you I DID try the bread you posted last week and it was nothing short of PHENOMENAL! It was EXACTLY what I was after and it was chewy and delicious with hummus! I will cut and paste this part on that post too so your dear readers know it is a keeper. I've been searching for a bread like this for years, so thanks for posting it!